"The experience of theUnited Statesis a happy disproof of the error so long rooted in the unenlightened minds of well-meaning Christians, as well as in the corrupt hearts of persecuting usurpers, that without a legal incorporation of religious and civil polity, neither could be supported."

"A mutual independence is found most friendly to practical religion, to social harmony, and to political prosperity."

~Honorable James Madison, Jr.,President, The United States of America, 1809–1817.The Father of theConstitution, Author of the Bill of Rights, Co Author of The Federalist Papers

27 August 2007

Alberto Gonzales, the nation's first Hispanic attorney general, announced his resignation Monday, driven from office after a wrenching standoff with congressional critics over his honesty and competence.

Republicans and Democrats alike had demanded his departure over the botched handling of FBI terror investigations and the firings of U.S. attorneys, but President Bush had defiantly stood by his Texas friend for months until accepting his resignation last Friday.

''After months of unfair treatment that has created a harmful distraction at the Justice Department, Judge Gonzales decided to resign his position and I accept his decision,'' Bush said from Texas, where he is vacationing. Solicitor General Paul Clement will be acting attorney general until a replacement is found and confirmed by the Senate, Bush said.

Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff was among those mentioned as possible successors, though a senior administration official said the matter had not been raised with Chertoff. Bush leaves Washington next Monday for Australia, and Gonzales' replacement might not be named by then, the official said.

''It has been one of my greatest privileges to lead the Department of Justice,'' Gonzales said, announcing his resignation effective Sept. 17 in a terse statement. He took no questions and gave no reason for stepping down.

Bush said the attorney general's ''good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons.'' Though some Republicans echoed the president's veiled slap at Democrats, Gonzales had few defenders left in Washington.

Many Republicans actually welcomed his departure, some quietly and others publicly so. Congressional aides and lawmakers agreed that any nomination of a new attorney general was almost certain to be acrimonious. The easiest prospects, some said, might be a current or former colleague of senators charged with the confirmation. Sen. Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, told reporters Monday that he would not accept the job, if offered. But, he said, another current or former senator ''might be just the ticket.'' ''If you have a former senator or a present senator or somebody who is well known to the Senate or the committee...that's always a big help if you know the person,'' Specter told reporters in a telephone call as he traveled from Warsaw to Paris. Asked, too, about whether Chertoff might be a good candidate, Specter replied:''I think he's a first-rate prospect.''

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards applauded Gonzales' resignation, saying it was ''better late than never.''

The announcement came as a surprise to many in the administration. Gonzales was tight-lipped about his thinking before going on vacation more than a week ago and aides were planning events for the next several months. After spending time with his family in Texas, however, and facing the prospect of returning to Washington for months of continued fights with Congress, he called the president on Friday.

The White House has asked anyone staying past Labor Day to stay the remainder of the president's term.

Gonzales, formerly Bush's White House counsel, served more than two years at the Justice Department. In announcing his decision, Gonzales reflected on his up-from-the-bootstraps life story; he's the son of migrant farm workers from Mexico who didn't finish elementary school. ''Even my worst days as attorney general have been better than my father's best days,'' Gonzales said.

Bush steadfastly _ and at times angrily _ refused to give in to critics, even from his own GOP, who argued that Gonzales should go.

Earlier this month at a news conference, the president grew irritated when asked about accountability in his administration and turned the tables on the Democratic Congress. ''Implicit in your questions is that Al Gonzales did something wrong. I haven't seen Congress say he's done anything wrong,'' Bush said testily at the time. Actually, many in Congress had accused Gonzales of wrongdoing.

After the 52-year-old Gonzales called Bush Friday, the president had him come to lunch at his ranch on Sunday as a parting gesture, a senior administration official said. Gonzales, whom Bush once considered for appointment to the Supreme Court, is the fourth top-ranking administration official to leave since November 2006, following Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, who had a high-ranking Pentagon job before going to the World Bank as its president, and top political and policy adviser Karl Rove.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., reacted to the announcement by saying the Justice Department under Gonzales had ''suffered a severe crisis of leadership that allowed our justice system to be corrupted by political influence.'' As attorney general and earlier as White House counsel, Gonzales pushed for expanded presidential powers, including the eavesdropping authority. He drafted controversial rules for military war tribunals and sought to limit the legal rights of detainees at Guantanamo Bay _ prompting lawsuits by civil libertarians who said the government was violating the Constitution in its pursuit of terrorists. ''Alberto Gonzales was never the right man for this job. He lacked independence, he lacked judgment, and he lacked the spine to say no to Karl Rove,'' said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

In a warning to the White House, Reid suggested that investigations into the Justice Department will not end until Congress gets ''to the bottom of this mess.''One matter still under investigation is the 2006 dismissal of several federal prosecutors, who serve at the president's pleasure. Lawmakers said the action appeared to be politically motivated, and some of the fired U.S. attorneys said they felt pressured to investigate Democrats before elections. Gonzales maintained that the dismissals were based the prosecutors' lackluster performance records.

In April, Gonzales answered ''I don't know'' and ''I can't recall'' scores of times while questioned by Congress about the firings. Even some Republicans said his testimony was evasive. Not Bush. The president praised Gonzales' performance and said the attorney general was ''honest'' and ''honorable.''

In 2004, Gonzales pressed to reauthorize a secret domestic spying program over the Justice Department's protests. Gonzales was White House counsel at the time and during a dramatic hospital confrontation he and then-White House chief of staff Andrew Card sought approval from then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was in intensive care recovering from surgery. Ashcroft refused.

Similarly, Gonzales found himself on the defensive as recently as March because of the FBI's improper and, in some cases, illegal prying into Americans' personal information during terror and spy probes.

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give medals 4 killing men but 4 loving men they wish you were dead?

thanks to the sacrifice of many the scourge of Dont Ask Dont Tell in the land of the free and home of the brave will be gone by the end of June!!!!

WELCOME TO THE ADVENTURE!

INTRODUCTION: The titleF6 ~ Fun FagF.A.Q.'s FromFather Fozycame from an article series previously written by the Editor in a traditional monthly publication between 2004-2005 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. F6 is a social-political commentary published and edited by an openly homosexual, religious, libertarian, male whose perspective is extremely sarcastic as a modern traditionalist yet he enjoys life to the fullest potential.DISCLAIMERS:There are some things that readers need to be reminded of from a legal perspective; so the Editor of F6, would like you to review the DISCLAIMERS AND COPYRIGHTS page, before you make use of any of the links on the sidebar and links page or have a coronary over any of the content of F6's both text and graphic presentation.

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"The history of medicine proves that in so far as man seeks to know himself and face his whole nature, he has become free from bewildered fear, despondent shame, or arrant hypocrisy. As long as sex is dealt with in the current confusion of ignorance and sophistication, denial and indulgence, suppression and stimulation, punishment and exploitation, secrecy and display, it will be associated with a duplicity and indecency that lead neither to intellectual honesty nor human dignity."

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Vote for a change. Protect your rights! Finally, please review these words of wisdom from an old friend as you begin the process of exercising your civil duties :

"When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers, 'just men who will rule in the fear of God.'."

"The preservation of government depends on the faithful discharge of this Duty; if the citizens neglect their Duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; 1. laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; 2. corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the Laws; 3. the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; 4. and the rights of the citizen will be violated or disregarded."

"If government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the Divine Commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the Laws."

~History of United States by Noah Webster.

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